British workplaces spend up to a billion pounds a year complying with clumsy equality legislation which strains public sector organisations and makes it more difficult for businesses to create and retain jobs, according to a new report by think tank Civitas.
Furthermore, these policies have made jobs less accessible to disadvantaged, marginal workers, the report, titled The Rise of the Equalities Industry by sociology professor Peter Saunders.
According to the study, the operation of Britain’s equality laws are seriously flawed. The associated costs of equalities monitoring amount each year to an estimated:
* £150 million in the service sector
* £35 million in manufacturing
* £25 million in construction
* £210 million across small and medium-sized businesses
* Between £300 million and £400 million across the whole private sector.
A large proportion of these costs are associated with mindless data collection. They have no obvious value for improving outcomes for the disadvantaged and can weigh especially heavily on public sector organisations. Examining DEFRA, as a typical government department, Professor Saunders wrote “At the end of 2010, it [DEFRA] was employing 2,570 core staff in its central London office (plus another 6,910 elsewhere). It has its own diversity team in London which in 2009-10 employed 4.5 staff at a cost of £231,000. This team’s work seems mainly to consist of researching the social make-up of DEFRA staff.”
Originally established to underpin equality before the law, equality legislation today is perversely undermining that very principle of fair treatment, the Civitas report warned.
“This is in pursuit of a false utopia of absolute equality for all. But this pursuit will remain completely unrealistic while free people are able to take different decisions, have different aims in life and, inevitably, experience different outcomes. Greater equality of condition can only be achieved with less diversity,” the organisation said in a press statement.
“Advocates for the equalities industry justify the extra burdens on the public sector and businesses on the grounds that they are designed to combat discrimination in work and society,” Civitas continued.
“The TUC claims that discrimination against female workers costs the economy £11 billion a year, while the National Audit Office argues that discrimination against ethnic minorities costs £8.6 billion.
“The problem with these figures is that they assume, rather than show, that differences in labour market outcomes are due to discrimination. In essence, every statistical deviation from the population average in an organisation is taken as evidence of prejudice. Instead, they are often due to the choices and priorities of employees of different genders and cultural backgrounds:
“The only way to generate the ‘savings’ of £15 to £23 billion that the Equalities Strategy refers to would be to force millions of women to do science rather than arts degrees, to take private sector rather than public sector jobs, to work as software engineers and architects, rather than as teachers and vets, and to put their children in nurseries and crèches even if they prefer to spend time with them at home.
“This means that tackling what is assumed to be discrimination is unlikely, in practice, to realise any of the speculated gains. A more viable strategy would mean ensuring everyone has the potential to choose their own priorities in life, rather than trying to force everyone down a predetermined path to a government-mandated ‘outcome’.”
In addition, the report continues, the equalities industry is “also selective in its focus on statistical deviations. When the difference shows a poorer outcome for a minority group, discrimination is the first assumption. When the outcome favours a minority group, it is ignored.
“Gay men and lesbians tend to earn more than heterosexual men and women. Gay men also tend to cluster in particular kinds of occupations, just as women do, but in the case of gays, this clustering is never seen as a ‘problem’ by equalities campaigners.
“That gay men and women earn more, on average, than heterosexuals, is hardly evidence of discrimination against heterosexuals in the workplace. All it indicates is that different personal characteristics are associated with different labour market outcomes.
“There is no need to assume unfairness. However, this does demonstrate some unfairness on the part of the equalities industry. It means that their concerns over differential outcomes are not broadly applied to every group characteristic, but focus arbitrarily on some pre-selected groups.”
“Ultimately, ‘equality’ is being redesigned from something in which everyone can expect to share, to a scarce resource that will only be available to groups that are selected to have their voices heard in policy circles.
“Different rules will apply to different people depending arbitrarily on their group characteristics and affiliations. Saunders warns that this zero-sum approach to egalitarianism will make Britain less free and less fair: Despite the rhetoric, modern equalities discourse is not neutral. It is tied to a wider and deeper political agenda… If this agenda is not opposed with a clearly-articulated, alternative conception of fairness rooted in the liberal tradition of equal treatment under a single set of rules, then liberalism itself will eventually crumble and fade away,” the report concluded.
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Yes I think I might be due a refresher in Equality and Diversity, I haven’t had one for a few months now. I qualified and worked as a social worker before becoming a psychologist and have been on more equality and diversity training than you’ve had hot dinners.
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Don’t knock it. Its a hell of a good laugh if you are able to control your temper (I use breathing techniques) so as not to get sacked and then articulate the weaknesses of ‘liberal’ ideology by asking the right questions and making the right statements in such a way as they ‘can’t get you’. Usually once I start its not long before others get the courage to question what they are being told and before you know it, the Equality and Diversity officer has got some real problems on his /her/ its hands. Its quite easy to open the flood gates.
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I am able to do my Equality and Diversity training (which is mandatory to complete each year in the NHS) online, but whenever possible I like to make a day of it and attend the training in person so that I can make the trainer work for his/ her / its money.
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I’d recommend it to everyone, but choose your words carefully, be polite and be sure that your can keep some of it back. Enjoy!
lol. Manxman, after reading the vast majority of the diversity thing below, I would be curious to know the kinds of things you do (and suggest) to make them work for their money and make people question what they are reading or being told.
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I have long since passed the point of such things – to the degree that I do not think I would even know where to start, a bit like not knowing how to answer a child asking “where does sky come from?”.
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It throws such a curve-ball of logic at you and involves such a difficult task of explaining complex issues in easy-to-bite ways that I think I would be lost!
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What does still irritate me is the descriptions like “deprived”, “disenfranchised” “socially excluded groups” (who in this case seemingly cannot look after their own teeth because of it? lol), etc, in these kinds of pieces.
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It kind of implies that the society and the government authorities are ‘racist’ (ie, not giving them their due, depriving them of something which everybody else gets), that they are purposefully not given specific incentives and instructions and are thus purposefully hard done by and sidelined in their welfare and welbeing, and that institutions and modern British life are such a “barrier” and so utterly awful and nasty to these niche groups (either wittingly or unwittingly) that they are “socially excluded” and cast away from services that are on offer!
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Besides being an insult, I think it is clearly preposterous. The very garbage and national tendency to adhere to the things touted in the copied piece below is surely evidence of it not being the case. Who would dare to not toe the line? lol.
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I wonder if the House Of Lords committee who produced that paper on immigration, or whether Migrationwatch factor into their studies just how much this “greatly diverse” nation costs us and how much the whole “race industry” is worth?…
…Think lawyers, legislators, court fees, immigration monitors, translators, fraud experts, jobs in “diversity awareness” or whatever else, people who run courses, etc etc.
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Perhaps the question is not the “good intentions” such pieces have, which are often hard to counter on basic humanitarian grounds, but the logic in having engineered a nation where it is all necessary in the first place!
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What a waste of time, money and effort. No wonder they want them to keep coming and keep presenting us with new problems! The unemployment figures from the ‘race industry’ would skyrocket!
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It certainly seems to make some people rich, at the expense of our long term national survival.
Here is my workplace’s website posting with all the usual shite,
“Equality and Diversity
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Equality, Diversity and Human rights is about ensuring that everyone using Trust services, and those employed by the Trust, enjoy the same opportunities and standards of treatment of care.
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This does not mean treating everyone the same. Far from it; In fact sometimes we need to treat people very differently to ensure that their needs are met whether in services or the workplace. The key to this is ensuring that whilst you might be treating someone differently, no-one is disadvantaged in the process.
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The idea of equality means that we look at our processes and polices, we look at what the law says, and we listen to our members, service users and staff around how we can shape equitable services. We look at the standards to which we provide a service and how well we support people in the right way.
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More importantly for us is Diversity. This is about the people. It looks at age, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, wider beliefs and sexual orientation.
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But most of all it is about acknowledging that this difference exists and that we are better off because of it. As a service user you should expect to have your diversity embraced by the Trust as a member of staff working for us you will find few other places that offer you specific support around your diverse and cultural needs.
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The Trust takes Equality & Diversity extremely seriously as is proud to be a leader for this important work in the NHS. This means dealing with discrimination effectively through ensuring understand their duties and what is required of them as well as being aware of zero tolerance processes. It is also about creating an environment that is pleasant and comfortable as well as professional. We do this by celebrating (whenever we can!) our successes.
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In additional to this, Human Rights underpins all of this work. For our service users human rights are as fundamental as breathing! They help us understand more about how we deserve and should be treated as well as often affirming our place in the world. You can view more about your human rights by clicking here.
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If you would like to know any more about the equalities work carried out by the Trust you can contact £££££ ££££££££, the Trust Equalities Manager on
£££££££££ or ££££££££@££££££££.nhs.uk
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Alternatively click one of the links to the left of this page for more specific information..
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Single Equalities Scheme
Access Interpreting Services
Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) 2009-2010
Staff Equality Monitoring Data 2008-09
Equality and Diversity Single Equalities Scheme
Access Interpreting Services
Staff Equality Monitoring Data 2010-2011
££££ shire Delivering Race Equality Project Board
Age
Disability
Gender
Gender Identity
Race and Ethnicity
Religion and Beliefs
Sexual Orientation
NHS Equality Delivery System (EDS)
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.Race and Ethnicity
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Many people have different concepts for race and ethnicity. The most common distinction between the two is that Race characterises a distinct population of humans distinguished in some way from other humans. It is determined largely by ancestry and genealogy, however conceptions of race, as well as specific racial groupings, are often controversial due to their impact on social identity.
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Ethnicity tends to refer to aspects of shared history, language and culture. A group identity defined from within. It is largely determined through group identity formed through social pressures from groups that tends to be linked with a psychological need to belong. It can be affected by upbringing, family history, religion, dress etc. It is also more fluid and acceptable to change that race.
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££FT has a very diverse range of staff working for the Trust. In 2006-2007, 23% of ££FT staff identified as being from an ethnic minority group. This number does not account for those who chose not to disclose their ethnicity.
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Furthermore, the 2006 Count Me In Census into ethnicity in mental health inpatient services, identified that approx 14% of people using inpatient services were from an ethnic minority group. This represents a slight increase on the local ££££shire population of 11.2% and follows a national pattern that some ethnic minority groups are often disproportionately represented in mental health inpatient services.
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The needs for service users in relation to race and ethnicity to can range from language needs, to involvement of families and – for many chaplaincy, pastoral support and spiritual care needs. In many situations the cultural needs of different ethnic communities will relate to religion and spirituality. This reinforces the need for all services to be culturally competent and to be aware of where they can obtain cultural information when needed.
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££££ shire has great ethnic diversity across all communities. These are represented in Appendix 1 on page 42, taken from the 2001 national census findings.
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The Trust has a statutory requirement to collected data on the ethnicity of service users and has a question on the electronic patient records system to record this. Like all equality information it is optional whether service users are happy to give this information. As with similar questions, if staff explain the reasons for asking then most people will not have a problem answering. Staff should consider the following points:
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•We collect ethnicity to help us understand who is using our services and to help us plan more responsive services.
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•Asking someone their ethnicity enables you to ask more detailed questions about someone’s needs in relation to culture, religion, language etc.
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•Service users must be given the opportunity to self classify their ethnicity from the list the Trust holds. Staff must not make assumptions about someone’s ethnicity.
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What is the Trust doing?
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Employment Example The Trust has a successful Ethnic Minority staff network that works to ensure that the needs of ethnic minority staff are addressed in the workplace. This includes mentoring & coaching, dealing with issues of discrimination and promoting development opportunities.
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All staff are also encouraged to attend monthly training sessions on cultural competency in the workplace to improve their knowledge and skills.
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Service Provision Example The Trust employs a number of community development workers for race equality in mental health & learning disabilities. Two large projects currently in development are:
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•The provision of service user & carer involvement groups specifically for service users and carers to share issues around ethnicity and culture.
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•A clinical trailblazers project that trains people with experience of mental health from ethnic minority backgrounds to work with mental health inpatient services on provided training and information for staff.
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Gender Identity
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‘Trans’ is a term used to refer to transgender and transsexual people. Trans is often a preferred term as transgender and transsexual to some can be seen to ‘medicalise’ trans people and treat them automatically as having a disorder.
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All trust policies and procedures must ensure that they adequately support Trans staff, service users and carers especially those policies dealing with recruitment, confidentiality, harassment, access to training.
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The Trust must be able to demonstrate that it works to prevent discrimination against:
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Trans people who have undergone gender reassignment
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Trans people who do not intend to undergo gender reassignment
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Trans people who intend to undergo gender reassignment in the future
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Trans people currently undergoing gender reassignment
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It is also important to note that many people may identify as trans, transgender or transsexual but may not meet the legal definition by having gone through gender related medical procedures or acquiring a gender recognition certificate.
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Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, people who hold a gender recognition certificate, as granted under the act, are considered to be either male or female, depending on which gender they have applied for. A Gender Recognition Certificate is: A document granted under the Act that allows a person the full rights and responsibilities of their acquired gender. This can include legally being allowed to marry someone of the opposite gender and applying for a new birth certificate.
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There are many other people who have a somewhat more ephemeral sense of gender, including, but not limited to, those who are “transitioning” from one gender to another. £PFT respects all gender presentations, irrespective of the presence of a gender recognition certificate.
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As there are not a large number of support agencies catering specifically for the needs of trans people, there can often be some confusion amongst staff on how to deal with these issues. It is important that the following be taken into account:
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.If someone holds a gender recognition certificate they are afforded the full rights of that gender and should be treated as such. This includes access to single sex spaces such as wards, toilets & bathroom facilities.
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•Where someone may be going through the transition process it is important for staff to talk with service users about what they feel they need in the way of support. Many people will happily say what they want when asked.
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•Staff must not make assumptions about the needs of trans people as they can differ greatly. What works for one person may not work for another.
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•To disclose to another person – that someone holds a gender recognition certificate (without their consent) is a criminal offence.
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•Services must be aware of where further information can be obtained. We do not have all the answers but we should be expected to know where to get them.
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.£££££ shire Delivering Race Equality Project Board
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Who are we?The ££££££ shire Delivering Race Equality (DRE) Project Board is a multi agency group that was set up in 2006.
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The group was set up to manage the local implementation of the national ‘Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health’ Programme – a 5 year plan for NHS organisations to offer better services to people from Black & Ethnic Minority (BME) groups.
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The group is currently chaired by £££££shire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – the local mental health & learning disability Trust – and also includes the following members:
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•£££££shire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
•££££££shire Primary Care Trusts
•££££££shire Joint Commissioning Team
•££££££shire County Council
•Adult Care Services
•£££££££shire Viewpoint – Service User Involvement
•Carers in ££££££
•Housing
•BME Service User Representation
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What are our aims?
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Our main aims are:
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•To identify and develop meaningful and relevant responses to mental health priorities to guide and support partners and stakeholders.
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•To contribute to improvements to the Mental Health and well being of BME communities and those socially excluded groups in the area by leading and influencing change in local health and social care systems using a whole systems approach.
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•To support the implementation of ‘Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care’ at a local level.
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•To provide more appropriate and responsive Mental Health services for BME communities
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•To consult and negotiate with other relevant agencies including service users on the development of local and regional mental health priorities.
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We do this through a variety of ways. This includes:
.•Research
•Consultation with communities
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•Working with other partners and stakeholders to find out what BME Communities want
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•Ensuring services are culturally competent
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•Tackling Stigma that exists around mental ill health within BME communities
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Who does this work?
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There are a lot of people within £££££shire working to improve Race Equality within mental health services. The most recent addition is the recruitment of 10 community development workers across ££££££shire. These workers are based within various different communities and the jobs include engaging BME communities and talking to them about issues such as:
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•Problems with access to mental health services
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•Tackling stigma & discrimination re: mental health
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•Help people understand the warning signs of mild mental health issues
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•Get to people earlier so that their emotional health and wellbeing can be maintained
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How can I get involved?
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We are always looking for help in promoting the mental health agenda within BME communities. If you are interested in become a ‘champion’ for your community please let us know and we can speak with you about training opportunities and how you can be supported to educate your community around mental health.
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Where can I find out more information?
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For more information about the race equality in mental health programme, speak to your local community development worker or contact £££££££££, Equalities Manager, £££££shire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
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You get the picture. It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. That was just the start of it.
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Truly a caase of verbal diarea and making a non job seem vital.
The ONLY true equality is to allow people the FREEDOM to follow their OWN beliefs and values. i.e FREE SPEECH, how on earth can politically enforced doctrin be portraid as equality except by marxist madmen/women and as the bible says people who indulge in perversions.
The equality legislation in employment law is in my view quite unecessary.
If an employer wants to take on someone who is not the best for the job, let him; the market itself will soon discipline that business when his competitor picks up, and uses, the good quality chap, or lass, that he (or she) threw away!
Simples?
Yes, it is just so simples that the Governments just do not seems to have thoughts of it.
Indeed. What is also often forgotten in the loss of the right to choose.
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If I was an employer in a small business which meant me directly working with the people I was employing, I think I would factor in ‘which one’ of those applicants I would get on with and want to work with day in-day-out, irrespective of whether they had the highest qualifications or whether they were just pipped in ‘experience’ by somebody else.
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In addition, although it probably goes against all aspects of government legislation and employment law – if I wanted to choose a white British worker to work for me instead of a Nigerian or Somali, or whatever, then surely in any kind of free society I should be able to employ who I want in my own business and not have to explain myself for doing so?
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I am just a regular-joe worker, so I do not know how all this works, or whether it is applicable – but I think people should have the right to pick who they want, for whatever reason they want.
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It is a good job I am not an employer, and do not know much about the rigmarole required to be one, because I would probably get hauled over the coals.
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I did hear though, from my employer, that he is regularly contacted by some jobsworths in the government or whatever, to be asked why he has not got a “diverse workforce” (considering the demographic of the local area)! I could not believe it, but he tells me they are for real. They suggest that because the local area to the factory is 15% ethnic minority, then ideally his workforce should reflect that too.
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The thing is, he is not really too bothered who works for him, but the trade/industry we are involved with just does not seem to attract ethnic minorities from the Asian background.
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It is a bit like asking why a building firm of bricklayers does not have enough lesbian, disabled or Punjabi staff laying the bricks. When did you last see a Punjabi brick layer? There probably are quite a few in Leicester or whatever, but surely it is a matter of fact that Indians just generally do not tend to gravitate to such jobs.
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It is good to see Civitas taking on the issue though, and I am sure those ‘costs’ given for monitoring diversity could be useful in the future.
The Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has chosen a lie as his new motto.- literally, How appropriate, some might say.
His new coat of arms sports the statement, ‘All are Equal’.
To which the only honest ripost can be, ‘no they aren’t’, not in reality, not ever, whatever ideology might say or contrive..
Hmmm – I’m utterly confused by this ‘equality’ malarkey.
After interviewing applicants for a job, the interviewer will have to refer to the ‘Who Takes Priority’ manual in order to avoid falling foul of the law.
Does the job go to a woman over a gay man, just because she’s a woman. Does a moslem bisexual trump a disabled black guy, or does a transexual Hindu trump a non-English-speaking Somalian?
As for a perfectly qualified white, heterosexual Christian male – forget it.
The trouble is, all the aforementioned applicants – except the white, heterosexual Christian male – can claim compensation for discrimination, whichever choice the interviewer makes.
The ‘equality malarkey’ is exerting a wonderfully detrimental effect on what remains of our country’s infrastructure. And the white, heterosexual (not too sure about the Christian) male is paying for the collapse through increased taxes, a longer working life – and subsequently a shorter shelf life – and having his pension pinched. The inadequacies of our government’s anti-white and anti-British schemes, policies and decisions serve to compound the problem.
One of the symptoms of our people being cornered into working harder and longer for less (should we have the privilege of a paid occupation), is that we are having far fewer children. The Hindu tramps et al, are, however, breeding the proverbial rats. This is a recipe for the national and genetic annihilation of our people and whether we are greedily devouring it or are being force fed makes little difference if we cannot stop it.
( Party Official ) This great , older article , sums it up well. This Party believes British People are EQUAL UNDER THE LAW and as such and clearly spelt out in our POLICY DOCUMENT , We are totally against and would REPEAL , ALL MINORITY RIGHTS LEGISLATION AS IT SEEKS TO GIVE VARIOUS GROUPS SPECIAL STATUS ABOVE THAT OF THE REST OF THE POPULATION !